Re: Judging footwork

There is only one skater who can be qualified as the best in this category: Kurt Browning. His use of musicality, edge work, change in direction, and overall effect during his footwork sequences is beyond what any other skater can do, including Alexei Yagudin. The best example I can think of to support this is Kurt's program, Nyah. Before he used it in competition and added jumps to the program, it was constructed with footwork only. every time he skated to Nyah it brought the house down.

Re: Judging footwork

Re: Judging footwork

Kurt is the king and Yuka is the queen of footwork. Others with great footwork: Hamilton, Fadeev, Orser, Wylie, Yagudin and Sandhu. I appreciate Yagudin's attempt to incorporate variety of steps in the autoracing SP, but he still needs some work to catch up with the king.

Footworks seem to be less emphasized among ladies, perhaps because of the emphasis on spirals. I pick Suguri as the best among eligible ladies. Her circular step sequence leading to combinations spins at the end of "Swan Lake" is my favorite footwork of the season.

Re: Judging footwork

I can say it in two words: Kurt Browning. Jeffery Buttle is also impressive in this area and is the "new kid" on the block, but Kurt is the "King" in this dept. It's the way he incoroporates his footwork so precisely with the music. He does not miss a beat. Kurt is also creative. I have always thought Kurt could be a dancer both on and off the ice. He moves like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

I am an outcast because

I thought Yagudin's tippy toe footwork at the Olympics silly while everyone else was in raptures of joy over it. Can someone with more skating knowledge than I have comment on the actual difficulty of that move? I want to know if I should be respecting the difficutly of that move even if I personally don't find it aesthically pleasing.

Re: I am an outcast because

I believe the toe work Alexei did in his straight line sequence in "Winter" wans't particularly difficult compared to his circular FW in the same program and the SL from "Gladiator". He never had any "edge work" to start the sequence off and there were no changes of directiton on the *flat of the blade* except for the tweezle. However, while I wasn't particularaly impressed with its difficulty, I was completely in awe of the aesthic aspect of the sequecne--nothing could have gone better with the music. It was passion, joy, excitement, and artistry rolled into one.:D

Re: I am an outcast because

The difficult thing about Yagudin's toe steps was that the steps require the skater to slow down and speed back up very quickly. His other sequence was more difficult, but both were incorporated into the music so well, making it one of the best SP's ever.

Re: Judging footwork

mike79:

Yags' toe steps remind me of a portion of the Passo Doble and the Quick Step (set-pattern dances). Both dances require a tremendous amount of footwork - the Passo is really tricky - especially the toe steps.